Steak and Life

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

I had dinner with a colleague.

It has been a very long while since my last dinner outside.

This is partly because of Covid.

But mostly, I am somewhat an introvert, usually not keen in meeting people and would love to save the money.

But the dinner was good.

The steak was very nice!

The chat was very nice!

The walk afterwards was particularly nice.

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We chatted for a long time, from work to life to investing to future plans.

My colleague was very talkative and he was a very confident man.

So when the topic came to retirement and financial wellbeing, he confidently elaborated his status.

He was in a very good position financially and he saw himself being able to retire with enough money before his planned retirement age.

• He had a million dollar plus apartment, fully paid
• He had stock investment with good performance, for which all he needed to do was not touch it until retirement, meaning he would not need to put in more money to it and it would be enough for his retirement.
• He of course had cash
• He also would have pension from his government after retirement, which would be enough to cover basic needs

So he was very confident and relaxed.

He would not be looking to make more money. Life style is more important to him. I think he would not be able to understand if I had told him that I was working the job and some extra commitment at the same time, pushing my average daily working hours to 14 hours.

He had some quite expensive toys.

He rented a 5k+ per month apartment here in Singapore.

He paid for the dinner also.

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I believe I won’t be worse off when I am his age.

Actually, by rough calculation, even if I just stay put, I believe I will be there.

However, I am not as nearly confident.

I would be seeking to trade my time and lifestyle to an extent for money.

And I can see I would be much more frugal than him in the many years to come.

For what?

I am not entirely sure. 

I know we wont starve in Singapore and would have enough to raise the kids and for retirement. Worst case, we can still rely on the government.

And all those frugal lifestyle only saved small money.

One opportunity missed or grasped would just render all that completely pointless.

And maybe that did contribute somehow to the opportunity being missed or grasped.

What is life about after all?

With all these thoughts, reflections and knowledge, I still do not see myself change much in this aspect…

Knowing and doing is oceans apart. I am a living example of that.

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Another observation I got was that he was generous.

One of the common colleagues of ours were out of the country and needed his apartment checked.

So he went. Apparently, the key had been passed to him.

I needed to shake all the steak anyway. So I went with him.

We walked and talked along the way.

When we reached the apartment, we were greeted by a lock out of battery.

We could not open the door. 

We called the guy overseas, explained the situation and he promised to come back with the battery.

Would I have done it for the guy overseas?

Probably not and probably the guy would not trust me with the keys either.

They knew each other for much longer for sure and they almost always stood together against a common boss.

But that trust and commitment does not come easy.

I also think the culture plays a big part.

None of the local colleagues has relationship of that level with them. And I can imagine I could feel more comfortable doing that for a Chinese guy also.

But I do get a sense of sincerity and content out of it.

• I am happy with my life
• I have the spare emotional and physical capacity to help you
• And I want to help you.

None of this would feel the same way if one is not happy with his life.

And people can feel that.

Till next time!

Culture Matters!

Photo by Aston Yao on Unsplash

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

If you think this is a post advocating for healthy corporate culture, you are in for a treat! A relaxing one.

While my work continues allows me some free time and my portfolio continues burning, I continue spending a lot of time in gaming.

This time around, I really enjoyed Gujian 3, an ARPG based on ancient Chinese legends.

Just to be clear, while this game can pretty much represent the highest level of Chinese made single player games in 2018 when the game was release, it is still not quite on par with the 3A games out there in many aspects.

What struck me, however, is the “familiar” feeling brought by the background setting of the game.

From Internet

The story is based on ancient Chinese legends. 

As someone with Chinese education and background, I have no problem understanding the concepts and the famous characters.

The settings are so familiar that the story progression feels so smooth.

As a result, the story becomes attractive to a point that I start digging for more details about the story.

Less than two hours into the game, I could not helping searching the “Journal” for more details about “Soul Nourishing Ground” (“养魂地”).

This is absolutely the first time that I have taken the initiative to search for the “Journal” of a game. Typically, I just ignore them entirely as they do not affect the game play.

From Internet

As the game progresses, I start to see even more familiar things. 

In the private space where a “Home” is built, I even see the cooktop that is still being used in my hometown, not exactly the same but the similarity is unconcealable.

Not to mention the weapons, armor and fighting mechanisms. They mimic closely what is described in the KungFu novels and movies.

From Internet

These “familiar” feelings just make me feel more connected to the game and the characters in the game.

I have to say cultural similarity is another source of satisfaction.

From Internet

Culture does matter to a person’s identify. 

We get the exposure while growing up and the culture ends up engraving into our head.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to take another culture as native.

In other words, we cannot choose.

If life is an RPG, our birth place and early experiences largely determine where our primary playground will be.

We can try to build another character in another place and culture, but it is destined to be in the “Brutal” difficulty.

First, we have to unplug ourselves from the environment we grow up in and plug ourselves into the new system. This means we have to endure and adapt without the support of family and friends. 

That is exactly why first generation of migrants almost always have tough lives.

Second, most likely we will end up outside of the mainstream. 

America is an exception. The migrants dominated the natives with superior war skills and cold blood. But can you imagine a president of Asia origin in the next decade?

From Internet

But that does not mean we cannot have a good life, depending how we define “good”.

From the perspective of Materialists, it is entirely possible.

Even some slaves enjoyed their lives.

And during the financial crisis, slaves did have better lives thanks to their masters, while the workers in the north could not find jobs and starve and freeze to death.

It also depends on what era we live in. In flourishing times, dogs live better than man.

Till next time!